An ailing Yasser Arafat is expected to be moved from his West Bank compound to an overseas hospital - possibly in Paris or Jordan - later today, according to Palestinian officials.

"It is most likely President Arafat will be transferred abroad for treatment. And it is very likely he will transferred to a hospital in Paris," said an official cited by Reuters.

Another report said Mr Arafat was expected to be moved to the Jordanian capital, Amman. However, Palestinian cabinet minister Saeb Erekat said no decision had been made on where Mr Arafat will be taken for further treatment.

The Palestinian leader has spent most of the day sleeping and has had difficulty standing and eating, according to aides. Doctors have conducted a battery of tests, but have declined to say what he is suffering from. One unconfirmed report suggested he may have a blood disorder.

The seriousness of his condition was underlined by the arrival today of his wife, Suha, in the West Bank. She lives in Paris and has not seen her husband since 2001.

If Mr Arafat is moved, it would be the first time he left his Ramallah headquarters since he was confined there by Israel in 2002. The Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, has agreed to permit Mr Arafat to be flown abroad for medical treatment - though it is unclear whether the Palestinian leader would be allowed to return to the West Bank afterwards.

Palestinian officials have been trying to play down his health problems, saying he performed prayers before dawn today and ate a light breakfast of cornflakes and milk.

A friend of Mr Arafat, Monib al-Masri, told the Agence France Presse news agency that the Palestinian president wanted to tell the world there was no need to worry about his health. "He prayed and is fully awake," Mr al-Masri added.

However, another source said Mr Arafat spent most of the day sleeping. When he awoke, he was moved into a wheelchair because he was very weak and could not stand up, the associate told the Associated Press.

He said Mr Arafat has been unable to hold down food, and also suffers from diarrhoea. At times, the veteran politician appeared confused, not recognising some of his visitors.

The Palestinian president's persistent two-week illness took a sudden turn for the worse last night, when he vomited after eating soup and then collapsed unconscious for about 10 minutes, a bodyguard said.

One official said Mr Arafat has created a special committee consisting of Palestinian prime minister, Ahmed Qureia, his predecessor Mahmoud Abbas, and Salim Zaanoun - the head of the Palestinian National Council - to run the PLO and the Palestinian Authority while he is ill. But Mr Arafat's spokesman denied he had set up any such committee.

In Israel, defence officials were meeting today to discuss the consequences of Mr Arafat's possible death. Israel has prepared contingency plans, including how to deal with possible riots and prevent Palestinian attempts to bury their president in Jerusalem.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported today that Israel had marked a possible burial site for Mr Arafat in the Jerusalem suburb of Abu Dis in the West Bank, and has taken the location of the plot into consideration in planning the route of its West Bank separation barrier.

Mr Sharon was meeting his defence minister, Shaul Mofaz. The country's foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, said a Palestinian Authority without Mr Arafat could become a partner for peace.

"We always said we would be willing to talk to a Palestinian leadership that would be willing once and for all to bring an end to the bloodshed," Mr Shalom told Israel Radio.

Meanwhile, White House spokesman Scott McClellan, travelling in Michigan with US President George Bush, said US officials were monitoring the situation.

Reports of Mr Arafat's illness have varied widely over the past two weeks. Palestinian officials said he had the flu, while Israeli officials speculated he might have stomach cancer. Two of his doctors said yesterday that a blood test and a biopsy of tissue from his digestive tract showed no evidence of that.

On Tuesday, a hospital official said the Palestinian president was suffering from a large gallstone. The condition was extremely painful but not life-threatening and easily treated, the official said. Israeli officials also speculated that Mr Arafat had suffered a stroke. He has shown symptoms of Parkinson's Disease since the late 1990s.

Mr Arafat's health crisis has highlighted how unprepared the Palestinians are for their leader's death, making a chaotic transition period all but inevitable. He has refused to groom a successor, fearing an impatient protege could turn on him.

Meanwhile, Israeli troops shot and killed an eight-year-old Palestinian girl who was on her way to school in a Gaza Strip refugee camp, Palestinian witnesses said.

Rania Iyad Aram of the Khan Younis camp was killed by random machine gun fire an army outpost near the neighboring Jewish settlement of Ganei Tal, witnesses said.